Marcotte yet to declare victory in Ind. primary

Ballot calculations remain in limbo as the county Board of Elections tallies the write-in votes from this year’s Westchester County primaries. Waiting for confirmation is County Legislator Sheila Marcotte, an Eastchester Repub­lican who challenged Mary Jo Jacobs, a New Rochelle Democrat, for the right to carry the Independence Party line in the general election.

The votes from the Sept. 10 primary election are expected to be calculated and certified on Wednesday, Sept. 25, after press time. So far, candidates are still unsure whether to claim victory or defeat, but unofficial indicators point to Marcotte having pulled of an impressive write-in victory.

Jacobs secured 47 votes with 100 percent of 66 districts reporting, according to numbers yet to be certified by the county Board of Elections. Marcotte, who ran as a write-in candidate after cultivating enough petition signatures to challenge for the Independence line, said 105 write-in votes were cast for her in the 10th legislative district, which includes East­chester, Tuckahoe and parts of New Rochelle.

Marcotte said that, although she hasn’t heard confirmation yet, she is confident and is looking to put the primary behind her and focus on Election Day.

“I can’t imagine that any of those people [in District 10] wrote something else besides my name,” she said.

This is the first time in a decade that Marcotte has faced a primary election, she said. Though the primaries for what are considered minor parties usually only garner between 1 and 5 percent of registered voters, Marcotte said that about 10 percent of District 10 showed up to the polls.

Earlier this year, the Inde­pedence Party was the focus of considerable scrutiny after Republican County Executive Robert As­tor­ino’s campaign said Inde­pendence Party chairman Guilio “Doc” Cavallo endorsed New Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson, the Democratic challenger for the county executive seat, out of spite after Astorino refused to grant county jobs to people in the party who were close
to Cavallo.-Reporting By ASHLEY HELMS